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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601041">The After and the Dawn-Andromache</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaofRoses/pseuds/AlannaofRoses'>AlannaofRoses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Old Guard Post Credits [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath, Conversations, Gay Immortal Parents and Their Adopted Immortal Children, Injury, Injury Recovery, Introspection, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:27:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaofRoses/pseuds/AlannaofRoses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between the Pub and going back to Copley, Andy begins to come to terms with her newly restored mortality and the changing seasons of life. She cares for her little family and allows them to take care of her. Fluff and sweetness and a little bit of grief. </p>
<p>I have now made this a series of sorts. Each story tells the same events from a different perspective. You do not have to read them in any order or even read all of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Old Guard Post Credits [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855519</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>187</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The After and the Dawn-Andromache</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They leave Booker standing on the beach.</p>
<p>Andy tries not to limp on the way to the car. She might be fooling Nile, but she can tell neither of the men believe her act. They communicate wordlessly, effortlessly, and Andy finds herself relegated to the backseat without it even being discussed, Nile climbing in the other side.</p>
<p>She watches the subtle rhythms Joe taps into Nicky’s hand as he drives. He was probably hardly even aware what he was doing, an instinctive comforting gesture.</p>
<p>Andy didn’t know what exactly had happened during their time alone in Merrick’s labs, but she could tell it had shaken both of her boys. Not to mention losing sight of them after the explosion only to see Nicky with blood caked into his hair.</p>
<p>That wound wouldn’t have been pretty, and if Joe had been forced to witness it…</p>
<p>Andy’s heart ached for more than one reason today.</p>
<p>She drifts in and out, the demands of a mortal body different from that of an immortal but just as insistent.  Nile is asleep next to her, Joe and Nicky are together, and even Booker is safe, if out of her reach for now.</p>
<p>She hasn’t lost anyone else today.</p>
<p>She’ll count that as a win.</p>
<p>She rouses as Joe pulls into the safe house. She’s never seen this particular one, though she knows it is one of Joe and Nicky’s favorites. It has the added benefits of actual running water, electricity, real beds, and being completely private. Andy can’t wait.</p>
<p>She slides out of the car, wincing at the pull of the bullet wound. Its such a strange sensation, feeling the effects of a wound hours after the fact. She is decidedly not a fan.</p>
<p>Apparently, her body is in agreement, because she only makes it a few steps in the door before her legs give out from under her. The floor rushes up to meet her, and she has a brief moment to contemplate what cracking her head open on the wooden flooring will do to her now-mortal body when strong arms catch her and swing her up into a sturdy hold.</p>
<p>Joe throws a glance at Nicky as he carries her to one of the bedrooms, and Andy knows there is an entire conversation in the brief eye contact.</p>
<p>Joe lays her done on the bed like a delicate piece of artwork, arranging the pillows behind her back to his satisfaction. She lets him fuss longer than she usually would have stood for, knowing that he is hurting, that he needs to take care of someone else until he can be alone.</p>
<p>Joe will pour all of his feelings about today into taking care of her, of Nile, of Nicky for as long as they need him. It is only later, when it is just him and Nicky, that he will allow himself to come undone.</p>
<p>He carefully works off her jacket and boots, not meeting her eyes. He’s thrumming with it- pain and grief and hurt and anger in such a swirl it makes Andy’s chest tight. He kneels at her side, fingers going to the bandage she’d had applied at Merrick’s lab, now coated in sticky blood.</p>
<p>Andy makes a calculated choice and leans forward to press a kiss against his forehead, her hand holding onto the curls at the back of his head.</p>
<p>He freezes, for just a second, and then he leans into her, his head dipping, his hands twisting tight into the sheets.</p>
<p>Andy just holds him there for a minute, lets him gather himself again, and when he finally meets her eyes there is more peace in his posture.</p>
<p>Nicky’s foot scuffs deliberately near the door, and Andy releases Joe, the moment broken.</p>
<p>Nicky is teasing Nile, “We don’t bite.”</p>
<p>Joe replies back, his voice steady and light as he jokes, “Speak for yourself!”</p>
<p>Her room is quickly filled with the younger immortals, Nicky replacing Joe at her side, and Nile curling up on the bed against her other hip. Andy strokes the girl’s hair and watches her eyes flutter shut.</p>
<p>“She’s tired.” Nicky says softly. Andy turns to him, a little startled to notice that Joe has already slipped out, probably to make food for them while Nicky finishes in here.</p>
<p>“As she should be.” Andy replies. She looks back at Nile. “Do you remember what it was like? To be that young?”</p>
<p>Nicky sets another stitch with perfect precision. She barely feels it, since he’d numbed her side sometime while she was watching Nile fall asleep. “No.”</p>
<p>“Me neither.” Andy murmurs.</p>
<p>Nile looks so peaceful, curled onto her side, even with flecks of blood and grime still visible on her skin and in her hair. She catches Nicky stealing glances at her, and there is a nostalgic tug on her heartstrings at the awe in his eyes.</p>
<p>It was the way Quynh, and probably Andy herself, had looked at Nicky and Joe when they were new. It wasn’t quite mothers and sons, and yet, it was in a way. Nicky and Joe had needed them, at first. So, so young and fresh and naïve. Their boys.</p>
<p>Watching Nicky look at Nile, Andy was pretty sure she had just met her first grandchild, if you followed the metaphor.</p>
<p>She tells herself it’s a good thing, even though the thought makes her feel older than her 6000 years ever have. It’s a good thing because it means Nile will have them, once Andy is gone. She knows the odds. She has about 60 mortal years, give or take, unless something takes her down before then.</p>
<p>A blip, really, in the time Nile will walk this earth.</p>
<p>The thought shouldn’t hurt her as much as it does.</p>
<p>Nicky finishes, wrapping the fresh bandages with a gentle hand. He follows her gaze and smiles wistfully.</p>
<p>“Looks like you’ve adopted another one, boss.” He says lightly.</p>
<p>Andy huffs a laugh, not surprised he had read her thoughts. “No, Nicky. No, this one’s yours. You and Joe.”</p>
<p>Emotions flicker over his face, almost too quick to parse. Awe and joy and grief and terror and pain and hope. For a second she almost regrets the words.</p>
<p>But he rallies quickly, giving her a soft chuckle. “You realize we know nothing about raising children.”</p>
<p>“Neither did Quynh and I.” Andy says, putting a hand on his cheek, wishing desperately she could take away some of the haunted pain in his eyes. “It’s a good thing I’ll be around for a while yet to show you what to do.”</p>
<p>He turns his head and kisses her palm. “Promise?”</p>
<p>She can’t, and they both know it, but she would have given anything in that moment to make that promise.</p>
<p>So she strokes his cheek and sends him what comfort she can. “Go see what’s keeping Joe.”</p>
<p>Nicky’s eyes flicker from her to Nile and back, a question in his gaze.</p>
<p>She shakes her head in response. “Go. We’re fine here.”</p>
<p>She settles back onto the pillows as he leaves.</p>
<p>Soon they will bring her food, and then she can fall asleep, safe in the knowledge that her family has made it through another trial. They are a little broken, a little worse for wear, but they are alive.</p>
<p>It’s all she can ask.</p>
<p>She prays it stays that way until long after she leaves them behind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wanted to make a little note about the family dynamics Nicky and Andy talk about here. I have found it to be true that even in situations where a group of us are all around the same age, we kinda naturally gravitate towards a 'mom-friend', or jokingly call the responsible one 'dad' etc. That is mainly what this fic is using for that. I headcanon that Andy and Quynh kinda took Joe and Nicky under their wings at first, and even now that they are all old enough to be equals, the men still defer to her. Nile being 'theirs' is just that- Joe and Nicky will be the ones to 'raise' her in life as an immortal, even if it's not parenting in the traditional sense. Basically I don't want anyone to think I'm treating Nile as the 'baby' or anything, she's just young and has a lot to learn.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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